When All Hull Breaks Loose Hey, if you can score 700 goals, you can say anything you want

On Monday night Detroit Red Wings forward Brett Hull became the sixth player in NHL history to score 700 or more goals, but his raspy voice might command as much attention as his booming shot. The league faces serious problems--constipated offenses, uneven officiating, the shaky finances of several franchises, the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement next year--and the outspoken Hull, 38, isn't shy about commenting on them. Here is his view, after 17 seasons, on where the league is and where it should be going.

HULL: To be among that group is incredible. I don't like to compare myself to those guys, because all I do is score goals. Having 700 goals, you'd think I'd have a lot of assists too. But I'm not even at 600 [588 through Monday]. The best thing about my career is the two Stanley Cups I've won. When players talk about a guy with big numbers, all they care about is, Did he win?

SI: What does your style say about you?

HULL: You look at me and the last word that probably comes to mind is tough, but to score you have to be tough, because you have to take abuse without getting frustrated. To stand in front of the net and take the whacks and cross-checks and get open, find your spot and score--that's toughness.

SI: With NHL scoring trending down--5.30 goals per game this season compared to 7.34 when you were a rookie in 1986--87--do you think you would ever reach 700 if you broke into the league today?

HULL: I could probably squeak out a couple of 50-goal years. But it would be a couple of 50s, a couple of 40s, a couple of 30s. There's six years right there, and I would have only around 240.

SI: Can any young player today approach 700 career goals?

HULL: Jarome Iginla [of the Calgary Flames] got 50 last year, and what's he got now? He's got 20? It's not because he's not good. It's because of the way the game is played. Look at [32-year-old Dallas Stars center] Mike Modano. I feel sorry for him. He's played his whole [14-year] NHL career with a conservative team during a stifling defensive period. He could have reached 600 goals [at week's end he had 439] because he's so gifted, but it was always defense, defense, defense.

SI: Do you feel lucky to have played part of your career in a more wide-open era?

HULL: I feel blessed to have come into the league when I did, but people talk about how easy it was to score then. Well, there was a s---load of players playing at the same time I did, and they didn't score 700.

SI: Why is it so difficult to score today?

HULL: It's simple: The skill level has dropped dramatically, the size of the players has increased dramatically, the goalies are better athletes and--with the technicians, the assistant coaches and the video--defenses have gotten more sophisticated. The game has gotten bogged down.

The coaches are afraid to lose. They're thinking, Well, we didn't win, but we lost only 1--0 or 2--1. They're deathly afraid of losing 5--1 or 5--0, 6--1 or 6--2. But it starts above them. An owner should say, "O.K., this is how we're going to do it: I'm going to give my G.M. money to get this player, because he's a great player. I want you and your scouts to draft that player and that player, because they're skilled. And then I want this guy to coach them, because he knows how to coach a skilled team."

It shouldn't start with an owner who says, "I don't have any money; I can't get that good player." Instead he gets a guy he doesn't have to pay a lot, a guy who's not skilled, and then all of a sudden he's got a whole team of players like that. Now the coach says, "This guy's no good and that guy's no good, so the only way I can coach is to have them shoot it off the glass and go get it and crash the net." It's a vicious circle.

SI: Would you want to be commissioner?

HULL: I would be commissioner if I had a group of owners who weren't such Neanderthals. Get out of the Dark Ages and be realistic in your approach to running the game and be open to new ideas.

SI: How do you improve the skill level?

HULL: It starts with teaching the kids. Why are the Russians so much more skilled [than North Americans]? It's not because they're better players; it's because of the way they're taught growing up. They became better players.

You've got to change minor hockey so it teaches more skills. Screw games--or playing as many games. Kids like to play games, but you've got to teach them skills before they can play. Make them practice. Make them pass until they get so sick of passing that they'll pass great so they don't have to practice anymore. Then line them up and make them shoot wrist shots. They shouldn't be allowed to take a slap shot until they're 13 or 14. Then teach them to pass while they're skating. Teach them to shoot while they're skating.

SI: Are you talking about NHL director of officiating Andy Van Hellemond?

HULL: I'm not going to name names, but whoever's in charge of the officials or the rules committee is doing a piss-poor job.

SI: Why are you so critical of officiating?

HULL: It's horrible every night. I'm not the only one bitching, so I don't feel bad. I've got backup from almost every player in the league.

The two-referee system is no good. It has watered down the quality of officiating. The second referee just gets in the way. You should have to play hockey to a certain level before you can become an NHL referee so that you understand the game. [If I were an official] I would know what type of team I'm reffing, and I would know each player: "That guy dives. That's not a penalty." I'd know when a tough guy takes liberties on a guy who's not tough. There are some excellent refs, but in the two-referee system the second guy can make terrible calls, which reflects badly on the good ref, and that's not fair.

The officials should have to answer for their blunders, the way players do for theirs. Refs should have to talk to the media. They should be disciplined. They're so sensitive now, it's scary. They need to lighten up. Half of the penalties they give for unsportsmanlike conduct aren't deserved.

SI: Is there going to be a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires in September 2004?

HULL: I don't think the league can afford it. After what baseball did, I don't think teams can afford it. I don't think it will happen. I have hope. That's why I've said some of the things I'm saying--to open people's eyes and help [the two sides come together]. Otherwise there's going to be big trouble.

SI: Do you think the owners are lying about their financial difficulties?

HULL: I don't want to call them liars. But I look at the players they pay big money to, and I say, "Don't do that and then feed me a line of crap."

HULL: What's that going to do? They all have so many other businesses that they'd just funnel money elsewhere so they could report whatever they wanted.

SI: So how do you go about building trust?

HULL: You try to be honest. Hopefully the owners and the players care enough about each other and the game. But that's another problem: Do the owners really care about the game, or is it just a business to them?

The best thing about Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux becoming owners is that they know what's fair for both sides. So we need more players to get into ownership when they retire.

SI: The average NHL salary is $1.6 million, and you've recently said that 75% of the players make too much money.

HULL: I did say some of us are overpaid, but no owner is being held hostage to pay anybody. Why can't we come up with some sort of scale to make everyone get paid fairly? The players and the owners are going to have to make concessions. I don't think a salary cap is fair, but some sort of tax is. There's got to be a way to make it fair for everyone, to make the league happy and the owners happy and the players happy and the fans happy, because without everyone being happy, there's no league.

SI: The average NHL ticket price is $41.56. Are games such as the Red Wings' 1--0 loss to the New Jersey Devils two weeks ago entertaining enough at those prices?

HULL: No. I wouldn't have paid a lot to see that game, and those are two highly ranked teams. If you can get a ticket for under 50 bucks, yeah, it's pretty good entertainment value. Any more than that is a lot of money to watch 15 shots to nine halfway through the third period.

SI: How would you sell the game?

HULL: It is the best sport to see live. It's colorful, it's fast, it's graceful, it's powerful, it's vicious, it's got every emotion, it's gladiatorlike. The potential for it to be better is incredible. The game speaks for itself, if they [the hockey establishment] would just unleash it.

SI: Philadelphia Flyers center Jeremy Roenick said you are the worst nightmare for commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association executive director Bob Goodenow. Do they complain to you about your candor?

HULL: I haven't heard a word from them recently. I used to get calls, but now it's as if they've decided, We won't say anything to him, because if we do, he'll get mad and say worse things.

Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything